Lynn Ischay, The Plain DealerBill Cervenik, holds hands with his wife of 37 years, Mary Kay, as he celebrates his re-election as mayor of Euclid at Tizzano's Party Center on Tuesday night. Charlene Mancuso called to offer her concession at approximately 10:30 pm.

Bill Cervenik won a third term as mayor of Euclid, overcoming three challengers and an 11th-hour cameo in the Cuyahoga County corruption probe.

Meanwhile, incumbent Richard Balbier prevailed in a five-way race for mayor of Brooklyn, a city preparing for the loss of its largest corporate taxpayer.

Thirty-five communities in Cuyahoga County held mayoral elections Tuesday, with 21 of those races contested, including other noteworthy ones in Pepper Pike, Berea and Warrensville Heights.

Tim DeGeeter, running unopposed, was elected mayor of Parma, Cleveland's largest suburb. And in Summit County, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic won re-election, as did Hudson Mayor William Currin.

"I feel very good," Cervenik said Tuesday night. ". . . We faced a lot of challenges in this campaign."

The Euclid race was closely watched because it pitted Cervenik against Mancuso, a former councilwoman, and Jack Johnson, Cervenik's former finance director.

Mancuso helped lead an unsuccessful recall of Cervenik in 2005 and was recently critical of Cervenik's handling of issues inside the police department that came to a head after an officer committed suicide.

Johnson, if elected, would have made history as the first black mayor of Euclid. In recent years, federal lawsuits prompted new voting procedures in the city to make it easier for black candidates to be elected to city council and the school board.

Cervenik battled more than his opponents. He also had to overcome being referenced in the county corruption probe. Two weeks before the election, a federal grand jury indicted businessman Michael Forlani and former County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora on corruption-related charges. Prosecutors accused Dimora of calling two board members of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to help shore up a $1.2 million contract for a Forlani-owned company.

Cervenik, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, acknowledged that he was one of the board members but denied being swayed by Dimora's call.

In Brooklyn, Balbier will have to come to grips with the departure of its largest employer,American Greetings, which is building a new headquarters in Westlake where it plans to move in 2014.

In a rematch of sorts in Pepper Pike, attorney Richard Bain soundly defeated Rick Taft, great-grandson of former President William Howard Taft. Bain received 1,873 votes and Taft 761.

Bain and Taft ran for Pepper Pike council in 2005 with Taft edging out Bain for the fourth and final seat following a coin toss, two recounts and then a second coin toss.

And in Warrensville Heights, former Ohio State University and NBA basketball player Brad Sellers defeated two opponents, including incumbent Clinton Hall, to be the new mayor. Sellers had 2,193 votes and Hall, who finished second, had 1,016 votes.